The Games War at Malory Towers
by exilencfc
Summary: Sequel to New Beginnings. And still not the story I originally intended to write. Sam and Co are back at Malory Towers for their second term and trouble is brewing - again. Despite the sports theme i'm hoping to keep up the interest levels for the sports haters. Disclaimer: I am not the original author of Malory Towers and don't pretend to be. But this is entirely my original work.
1. Chapter 1

The Games War at Malory Towers

Samantha Barrett stretched out luxuriantly in bed. It was pure bliss to know that she had no need to get up. There was no assembly to go to, no classes – not even any lacrosse training. For the next three or so weeks she was free to do more or less whatever she wanted (provided her parents approved of course). All this and Christmas. Yes, there was no denying it, Sam Barrett was in holiday mode!

She lay there listening to the familiar morning sounds of the house. Somebody was taking a shower. Delicious smells from the kitchen promised breakfast. The slam of the front door announced the departure of her father for his office. Sam supposed that if somebody was going to the effort of cooking breakfast she should at least get out of bed to eat it. Yawning, she hauled herself to her feet and, without bothering to put on either slippers or a dressing gown, made her way downstairs.

"Morning Sam", her mother had no need to look up from her cooking for she knew instinctively the sound of every member of the family. "Bacon and eggs for breakfast today. Special treat for the first day of the holidays, you needn't expect a repeat".

"I'm honoured" replied Sam cheerfully, flopping down into her seat at the scrubbed wooden table and pulling the coffee pot towards her mug (the Barretts did not hold with dainty cups, at least not at that time of day).

"There's a letter from Malory Towers" her mother added cheerfully. "Besides your reports that is. An interesting bit of school news for us all". The all she referred to comprised not only her two daughters, for she was herself an old girl of the school as was her own mother Darrell. "But shout up for the others before you read it, somebody's still dead to the world".

Obediently Sam put aside her coffee and straggled over to the foot of the stairs where she sent up a call for her elder brother and sister to come down for breakfast. Then she went back to the table and sat down with her coffee and a letter bearing the imposing crest of Malory Towers . Before she could unfold it properly, let alone read it, a series of thumps announced the arrival of her elder brother Peter. Like her he was still clad in pyjamas and his black hair stuck up at all angles. "Must you wake us up this early on the first day of the holidays?" he demanded peevishly. "I wanted to sleep in for once".

"It won't kill you" replied his mother unsympathetically. "Besides which, unless you've turned over a new leaf, your report will doubtless contain a note from your headmaster about your inability to get out of bed on time in the mornings".

Peter grinned good naturedly. His protest had not been meant very seriously. "Haven't you read our reports yet then?"

"Not yet. I was too busy picking you up from various corners of the country, then I had three great piles of laundry to sort out. Anyway I want to wait for your father to be home so that we can look them over at the same time".

Before the subject of reports could be pursued, the last member of the family arrived in the kitchen fully showered and dressed. Pippa was two years older than Sam but two years younger than Peter and, like Sam, was in North Tower. Mrs Barrett carried dishes of bacon and eggs over to the table and set them before her children who were busily helping themselves to coffee and toast.

As she ate, Sam thought over the events of the last term. There had been all the excitement of starting a new school and making new friends. Then she'd had to get to grips with classes (and that reminded her, they would be in ability sets for some subjects next term. That could be amusing – or totally embarrassing). She'd got into the junior lacrosse team, which had been her proudest moment, but had been injured in a training session and so not played in any matches. Then there had been all the pranks and Natasha's betrayal of them all. Poor Natasha, she'd spent the last few days of term being more or less ignored by every first year in North Tower. Sam rather hoped the whole affair would be forgotten by the start of next term. Natasha was an idiot but she didn't deserve to be an outcast forever.

Sam's thoughts were interrupted by her mother waving the Malory Towers letter under her nose. Sam made a grab for it but her mother shook her head playfully and held it out of reach. "I shall read it out I think. Not fair on Pippa to have to wait otherwise".

"Not fair on me to have to listen" muttered Peter.

"True enough" said his mother with a smile "you'll just have to forgive us for talking Malory Towers occasionally. Consider it revenge for all the time you and your father spend discussing rugby during family meals".

She unfolded the letter with a dramatic flourish. "Dear parent or guardian. As you know lacrosse has long been the main winter game at Malory Towers and the school has established a strong reputation in the sport, producing a number of international players. However other schools have increasingly turned away from lacrosse to the extent that it is becoming difficult to find sufficient suitable opponents for our team. As such, we have decided that the main winter sport should be hockey. Lacrosse will continue to be played and we will also be offering football (soccer) but these sports will be primarily recreational. We hope that this variety will provide our girls with more opportunities for competitive sport and give each of them a better chance to find a sport she can enjoy participating in for the rest of her life. Hockey will be the main sport next term and all pupils who participate in games lessons should be provided with hockey sticks".

Pippa and Sam looked at each other in surprise. Sam was quite dismayed, she loved lacrosse and had hoped to claim her place in the junior team. She had never played hockey and had no idea how long it would take her to become decently good at it – if she ever did. Football sounded quite interesting but she would obviously have no time for it if she was going to play both hockey and lacrosse seriously. Pippa was more excited, although naturally athletic she didn't have the co-ordination needed to be good at lacrosse. She'd often thought that hockey would be far more her thing. "Can we go shopping for hockey stuff this morning then?" she asked excitedly.


	2. Chapter 2

_Yeah I admit it. I know nothing about lacrosse and I've built an entire story around that. Oh well I'm sure other people have worse excuses. And, as I said, there will be non-games content._

As it happened Mrs Barrett was already planning a trip to the local shopping centre. She needed to go to the supermarket and had one or two other bits to pick up. She said the girls could pick up these oddments and also visit the sports shop. Peter said he would stay at home - he had no interest in discussing hockey sticks when he could be spending some quality time with his X-Box.

The girls left their mother in the car park and walked briskly towards the sports shop. "So what do you think about this hockey business then?" Pippa asked her sister.

"Dunno really" replied Sam morosely "I mean it would be nice to play more matches for the school, but I like lacrosse. I don't know if I'll like hockey, let alone whether I will be good enough to get into the team. And that's the other thing, most people at Malory Towers have never played hockey, the teams won't be any good at all. Losing all the time won't be much fun or do the school's reputation any good".

"Don't be so pessimistic" said Pippa bracingly. "I bet lots of people played hockey when they were at their junior schools and some of them probably play in the holidays too. We all have games lessons every day so we should improve pretty quickly. Besides maybe some different people will get a chance in teams now, it always seems to be the same people all the way up the school".

"How would you know?" asked Sam irritably "you're only a third year yourself".

"Well the people who were in the junior team last year are in the intermediate teams now" argued Pippa. "And if you look at the team lists in the school magazine for the past few years it's pretty clear. I'm not saying I'd never get into a school lacrosse team but I think I've a far better chance of being picked for hockey. Provided I happen to be good at it anyway".

In the shop they picked up unfamiliar hockey sticks and balls. They were inclined to wave the sticks around rather aimlessly until one of the staff took them in hand. She showed them how to tell what length of stick you needed, how to hold the stick properly, and even gave them a few pointers on hockey skills. Sam was quite relieved to have met an expert who could give them a valuable head start in the new sport. The woman explained that she belonged to the local hockey club. The club had a junior section and they would both be most welcome to join, even if they could only come in the holidays. The club would be holding a two day skills camp to fill in the few days between New Years and the start of the new term, perhaps they might like to come to that?

By the time they left the shop clutching their new equipment and the contact details for the hockey club they felt positively cheerful and optimistic. Until they realised that they had forgotten all the errands they were supposed to be running for their mother and that they were due to meet her in five minutes. Pippa, as befitted the eldest, took charge. She ripped the list of jobs in half and handed the bottom half to her sister. "Meet you at the car" she called, taking off for the book shop at full speed. Glancing at her own list, Sam took off in the opposite direction. She was still five minutes late in arriving at the car but fortunately her mother was later still and so she escaped detection.

The Barrett's garden was rather small but was blessed with a lawn that was both flat and reasonably spacious. As such it was ideal for trying out a new sport in private. Fortunately Mr and Mrs Barrett were not the sort of parents to make much fuss about a broken window or two, which was just as well given the tendencies of wayward lacrosse and cricket balls. After helping their mother put the shopping away the two girls changed into tracksuits and trainers and headed into the garden with hockey sticks and balls in hand. Ten minutes later, after rescuing her ball from under the rose bush for the fifth time, Sam was heard to say that hockey was a terrible sport and that whoever came up with it should have been shot. Pippa didn't answer, she was too busy trying to fish her ball out of the pond.

After lunch Sam decided that she would go online and find out what her friends thought about the change in sport. Perhaps her grandmother would have seen the news too? Sure enough a popular social networking site was busy with Malory Towers girls, both past and present, airing their opinions. There were plenty of people who had no interest in games and couldn't see what difference it made whether Malory Towers played hockey or lacrosse. Most of them had already given up on the debate and moved onto some other interest. The traditionalists were quite horrified and argued that it would be a mistake to throw away years of lacrosse playing excellence just for the sake of conforming to modern trends. But many people were delighted by the thought of Malory Towers being able to become more competitive at sport. Sam saw a post by her mother's old friend Sally saying that the change was a great move. But Darrell herself was silent on the issue.

Sam was quite curious as to what her Grandmother thought about hockey but she didn't find out until Christmas day itself. On that day the Barretts and many other family members descended on her Grandmother's house. Darrell always insisted on hosting every family member who wanted to come for Christmas and she and her husband always put on the most spectacular Christmas lunch. There was smoked salmon or a goats cheese tart to start with, followed by roast goose, roast pork and all the trimmings. For pudding there was trifle, profiteroles or Christmas pudding. Or, if you were Peter, all three.

After lunch most of the family settled down in front of the TV except for some of the boys who retreated upstairs to play computer games. Sam however found herself feeling restless and rather full and so decided to go for a walk. To her pleasure her Grandmother chose to accompany her although nobody else wanted to come. They set off briskly towards the local park, delighting in crisp December air and nodding polite greetings to those they passed. Sam was dying to ask her Grandmother, always a great advocate for Malory Towers tradition and yet a very forward looking person, about the hockey issue but she couldn't think how best to raise the issue. So she was quite happy when Darrell raised it, albeit in a rather round-about way.

"I bet you're looking forward to getting back to games this term aren't you?" she asked.

"Oh yes" said Sam, who had broken her wrist the previous term and so missed many games lessons. "My wrist is back to normal now Gran, so I hope I can go straight back into games and get my place on the lacrosse team back".

"I'm glad to hear you say that Sam, I was so hoping you'd keep up with your lacrosse. Such a strong family tradition playing Lacrosse for the school and it would be a shame if neither you nor Pippa managed it".

Sam nodded, she knew that not only had her Grandmother played for the Malory Towers first team but so too had Sam's mother and both of her mother's sisters. Sam's cousin Lucy, the only one of Darrell's grand-daughters still at Malory Towers besides herself and Pippa, was the current captain of the first team and many of Darrell's older grand-daughters had played for at least the junior teams. They walked on, Sam lost in thought. She was slowly getting better at hockey but had already been inclined to put more emphasis on lacrosse and her Grandmother's words had only cemented that decision. Sam Barrett was a lacrosse girl and she would spend the rest of the holidays practising that sport, if Pippa wanted to go off to the hockey club she was quite welcome to it! Meanwhile Darrell strode blithely onwards, quite unaware of the effect of her words.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam and Pippa waved goodbye to their father and set off through the main entrance, across the hallway and out into the Court. It was sheltered from the bitterly cold January wind and already seemed to have a faint promise of spring about it. Sam smiled appreciatively but Pippa seemed not to notice, being too busy concentrating on not dropping her burden of bags and games equipment. Safely inside North Tower the two hastily stored their outside shoes, coats and games equipment in the cloak room before hauling themselves and their remaining belongings upstairs to their dormitories. As befitted so grand a personage as a third year, Pippa shared a small room with only two others. Sam, being merely a first year shared a dormitory with seven other people. They tramped upstairs to the second floor and parted at the doorway marked 'Dormitory No.1'.

Sam pushed open the door, anxious to see who had arrived back before her. Several beds were strewn with their owner's belongings, only Charlotte had arranged her things neatly - and she had probably arrived from Singapore the previous evening. Lucia was sound asleep amidst a sea of books and clothes but, having caught an overnight flight from Brazil, she couldn't really be blamed. Lauren and Kipper's areas were still starkly empty, their owners not having arrived yet. Apart from Sam the only person who was in the room and awake was Rebecca Loxley-Hampton.

Rebecca, normally known as Becky, was lying back on her bed wearing a disgruntled expression and glaring distastefully at the stack of text books on her bedside table and the hockey stick leaning against it. "Hello Becky" said Sam, in a loud whisper so as not to wake the slumbering Lucia. "Looking forward to hockey then?"

"No" muttered Becky irritably. "Stupid game, why we couldn't stick to lacrosse I don't know".

Sam was quite surprised, Becky was easily the best athlete amongst the first years and Sam had been sure that she would adapt easily to the new game. Even if Becky wasn't very good at hockey, she should surely still be a shoo in for junior games captain next year on account of being good at every other sport Malory Towers offered.

"Chin up" said Sam, pursuing this line of thought out loud. "You can't be much worse than anyone else and you'll be fine when you get enough training in".

"That's just it" said Becky bitterly. "My parents have withdrawn permission for me to do any extra games until I improve my school work. My report was pretty awful and I'm in the bottom groups for French, English, Latin and maths. Dad says he doesn't care how good I am at games, he sent me here for an education and I'm jolly well going to get one. So I can't carry on with lacrosse because all the team practises will be outside lesson times, when I have to go to academic coaching, and I won't have enough time to get really good at hockey either".

"Gosh that sounds pretty awful" said Sam, feeling rather inadequate in dealing with the situation. "It isn't like you can be good at everything after all and it seems a shame you won't get the chance to shine in something that you are really good at". She herself was beginning to feel rather worried, the new ability sets had intruded on her thoughts rather a lot over the holidays and soon she would have to brave the lists and find out where she had been placed.

"The lists are posted in the common room" said Becky, as though reading her thoughts. "You only got told in your report if it was particularly bad. Or good – Charlotte's in the top set for everything".

"Well she would be" said Sam, "But I suppose I'd better get it over with and go and look, see you later Becky".

Ignoring the pile of belongings waiting to be put away, Sam immediately left the room and ran back downstairs to the first form common room. It was a bright airy room despite overlooking the courtyard (common rooms with sea views were reserved for the older girls). Nobody else was in the room which was quite un-naturally tidy. The notice board was near naked apart from the set listings. The fifteen North Tower first formers were listed in alphabetical order with their set listings next to their names.

Sam ran her finger down the list until she came to her own name. English… set one – thank goodness for that. Maths, set one – a great relief for Sam's favourite subject was science and she harboured hopes of becoming a science specialist further up the school. Being in the top maths set was a good start in achieving that goal. French, set two – hardly surprising for Sam had never been much good at French. Set two for Latin as well which was also pretty much as expected. Breathing a sigh of relief Sam made a mental note to send an email home as soon as possible communicating this news.

The door to the common room opened, admitting Poppy Milewski who was in Dormitory Two; since she was in Wilshire One rather than Grayling One she was one of the housemates Sam knew least well. "Hello Sam" said Poppy cheerfully, "good hols?"

"Yes thanks" said Sam, ceding her place at the notice board to the other girl. Poppy scanned her way down the form list, nodding in satisfaction as she reached her own name. This done, she read through the rest of the list.

"No Natasha" she said. "I wonder if she's moved towers or something. I know I'd want to if I was her".

"So would I" agreed Sam. "She made an awful mess of last term".

This conversation was cut short by the door opening again, this time to reveal Mrs Reeve the house mistress of North Tower accompanied by a girl Sam had not seen before. The newcomer was on the short side and rather stocky, though she could not fairly have been called fat. She had short blonde hair and looked around her rather curiously. "Oh good" said Mrs Reeve, "just the person I was looking for. Girls this is Madeleine Box who is joining us this term in place of Natasha who has moved to Switzerland with her parents. She'll be taking Natasha's place in your dormitory Poppy, so you can help her unpack and then show her around". Poppy nodded obediently and immediately left the room, indicating that the new girl should follow her. Left alone, Sam idly examined the set list which was most interesting reading.

Curiosity satisfied, she returned to the dormitory to make a start on her unpacking. Lucia had woken up and was putting her clothes away. Rebecca was tidying her books onto her shelf. Francois and Izzy had returned from whatever mission had previously claimed them and were busily filling their lockers and making beds. Sam began to tidy her own things away, starting with stowing her clothes in drawers and wardrobe. Suddenly there was a loud noise from the stairway and in clattered Lauren and Kipper who had arrived from the station with a coachload of other girls. They greeted the others before hastily commencing their own unpacking. All those who had not previously done so found the time to go and check the set lists in the common room and came back looking smug or bemoaning their fate as appropriate.

Dinner was a rather riotous affair with every member of the school seemingly set on telling all her holiday news at the top of her voice. Even the delicious beef casserole and mashed potatoes could not keep mouths shut for long. The first formers reconvened in the common room after dinner and this time the main topic of conversation was the set lists. Izzy had taken the fact that she was in set one for English and maths but set three for French and Latin with a shrug "I told you so, I'm awful at languages. Good thing I did concentrate my revision efforts on maths and English, or heaven knows where I'd be".

"I expect they'd have thrown you out and told you to go back to junior school" said Kipper cheerfully, she had taken her own placing in the top set for all subjects very calmly.

"You should not joke about these things" said Charlotte seriously. "School is important to learn, to study. Not the games and jokes you like so much Izzy".

Izzy shrugged again. "We can't all be academic geniuses Charlotte and I would die of boredom if I spent all my time studying".

Becky groaned, "I may not have any choice in the matter".

Madeleine had sat rather quietly through all this conversation but, at length, was prevailed upon to introduce herself to her housemates. "I'm Madeleine Box, everyone calls me Maddie for short. Or Mad for shorter".

"Can we call you Frog?" asked Kipper innocently.

Maddie looked at her in confusion for a moment and then burst out laughing. "Frog? Oh that is brilliant. Of course you can". The others looked at each other in confusion. Whatever joke had passed between Kipper and Maddie/Frog was beyond them. The two in the know exchanged knowing smirks, finally Kipper cleared her throat ostentatiously.

"Well you've all heard the phrase 'mad as a box of frogs' haven't you?"


	4. Chapter 4

_If anyone is reading this I would very much appreciate some reviews. I'd also be interested in knowing which characters you'd like to see more of._

Perhaps it was the animal themed nicknames. Perhaps it was the shared sense of humour. Whatever it was that had done it, by the time the first lesson of the term rolled round Kipper and Frog were already established as close friends. Kipper had poked her head round the door of Dormitory Two and asked Frog to go down to breakfast with her. Then they'd gone off to lessons together. Poppy, who was supposed to be escorting Frog, was mildly put out by this but happy to get back to her own business. Sam couldn't help feeling jealous. After all she'd known Kipper since the start of the school year and been close friends with her when she was still known as Jenny. Now though Kipper only seemed to be interested in Frog.

Sam wasn't by nature a jealous girl and so she was able to keep her feelings under control. She told herself that Kipper was still her best friend and was only trying to make the new girl feel welcome. Since Natasha's bad behaviour had been caused partly by feeling isolated then it was best if Frog didn't feel that way. In any case Frog promised to be a lively addition to both North Tower and Grayling One form and should therefore be encouraged. As she made her way to her form room that first morning of term, Sam told herself all this and gave herself a short lecture on jealousy and being welcoming.

The first lesson of the new term was history, which was still taken as a form rather than an ability set. Sam was delighted to find that Kipper had bagged a group of seats so that the whole North Tower contingent could sit together – and at the back of the room too! Kipper indicated that Sam should sit on her left side and Frog on her right. Lauren took the seat directly in front of Sam and Izzy the seat in front of Kipper. Some of the other girls were still squabbling over seats when Mr Grey arrived and brusquely ordered them to sit down in the nearest empty chair. Kipper's friend Jess, a South Tower girl, was most indignant to find herself in the front row and directly under the teacher's eye. Mr Grey, on the other hand, thoroughly approved of this arrangement and all appeals fell on deaf ears!

As the morning wore on it became apparent that Frog was certainly not lacking in brains. She answered intelligently when called upon in history and geography and performed very credibly when the top maths group took its first lesson together. Sam was relieved to get the maths lesson out of the way; she had been concerned that she would struggle to keep up with the group and was pleased to find she was well up to standard. She was also surprised by how competitive some of the group seemed to be with Charlotte, Grace, Louise and even the normally laid back Kipper all seemingly determined to prove they were top dog. Clearly hockey wasn't the only new competitive sport this term!

The first years had games after lunch and they straggled out to the pitches displaying various degrees of enthusiasm and familiarity with the hockey sticks they held. Sam and Lauren were amongst the first out, Francois and Poppy amongst the last. Becky and Izzy were the first out of all and were enthusiastically hitting a ball between them whilst they waited for the lesson to start. Despite Becky's lack of experience it was readily evident that she had the makings of a good player.

North and South Tower girls were grouped together for the lesson which was to be taught by Miss Fox. Miss Fox herself was more of a lacrosse player but she had supported the school's change in sport and made diligent efforts to improve her hockey skills. She was particularly happy to see Lauren and Sam both of whom had been off games for the latter part of the previous term. She began the lesson with a warm up of jogging and stretching and then began to take them through the basics of dribbling, tackling and shooting. As Sam had prophesised, most of the girls showed a marked lack of skill. However Miss Fox was always enthusiastic and encouraging and by the end of the lesson many of the girls had made good progress.

All the first years came together at the end of the lesson for a lecture from the senior games Mistress Mrs King. She explained that they would not now have any lacrosse lessons, instead devoting three games periods a week to hockey, one to football and one to badminton. Anyone who wanted to play lacrosse would have to come to voluntary sessions at the weekends or team training in the evenings. The first training session would take place the following evening.

As they walked back inside to shower and change the North Tower girls discussed the hockey lesson. Izzy said that it was a shame there would be no hockey matches that term, she was sure that Malory Towers could produce a good showing. Lauren said that she was being ridiculous and that she'd obviously never seen a proper hockey match! Kipper pointed out that the hockey team wouldn't be that good anyway because many of the people who were good at games were concentrating on lacrosse. Sam said that she for one had no intention of being distracted by hockey – lacrosse was the game for her. Francois and Poppy said that it didn't matter because all games were a waste of time and they could keep fit perfectly well through dancing, aerobics or going to the gym. Lucia said it was a great shame to be arguing over something so ridiculous as whether hockey was better than lacrosse.

The last lesson of the day was science which was Sam's favourite subject. It had been proposed to set the first years in this subject but the plan had been abandoned for some reason not vouchsafed to the girls. Grayling One had learnt from the morning's experiences and many girls dashed through their showers in order to arrive early and bag the best seats. To its dismay the North Tower contingent found itself spread around the room. Tess had saved Kipper a seat in the back row. Lauren and Izzy found a desk together but it was only available because it was in the front row and directly in front of the mistress' desk. Sam found a seat in the second row which had been neglected on account of being in a draught (the hardy Sam was not perturbed). Frog had the seat behind Sam. Concentrating hard on the lesson, Sam had no time for talking or worrying about how anyone else was performing.

They strolled back to North Tower in the hope of getting some prep done between tea and dinner. Lucia declared that she was still exhausted, that prep could wait and tea be blowed, and that she was going to take a nap. Everyone else reconvened in the first year common room with mugs of coffee or tea and plates of flapjacks or muffins in hand and settled down for a quick chat.

"So how do you like Malory Towers?" somebody asked Frog.

"Quite a lot so far", she replied "I'm knackered though. Is every day this exhausting?"

"Some of them are worse".


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry for not updating sooner. I got a bit discouraged by the lack of feedback and then, when you lovely people left me some, I went on holiday. Since then I've been a bit busy. Anyhow here's the next bit. I hope to have some more written soon but i'm still quite busy. Also a horse bit my arm and it's a tad painful!_

It turned out that Kipper was wrong. Very few people were concentrating on lacrosse. When the junior lacrosse team assembled for its training session the next day it was apparent that most of the team members had given up the sport in favour of hockey. Whereas there had previously been enough people to put out two sides, there were now barely enough for one. The team members looked at each other in dismay. "Never mind" said Miss Fox bracingly "better one volunteer than ten pressed men".

It was already dark and so the training session took place on the floodlit astroturf; much to the relief of the team who had not relished the prospect of tramping across muddy fields to one of the few pitches that hadn't been given over to hockey. It wasn't a long session and it went well, Sam was rather rusty after missing games for most of the previous term but everyone else was up to speed. Sophie, who had been restored to the team following her clash with Sam, played very well. Their first match of the term would take place in a week and everyone felt confident.

As she walked back to North Tower to shower Sam realised with a start that she was alone. There were a couple of North Tower second years walking ahead of her but she was the only first year. No Becky of course, she was at a maths coaching session, but also no Izzy. Well that wasn't surprising, Izzy had never been one of the first choice players so it was quite reasonable that she'd switched to hockey. However the absence of Lauren really stung. Sam's own decision to persist with lacrosse had been made as a result of Darrell saying how much she valued the sport and she knew that Felicity, who was Lauren's great-grandmother, felt much the same. How could Lauren just disregard all of that family heritage?

Sam had fallen out with Lauren the previous term but she hadn't learnt much from it. She had, however, inherited her Grandmother's short and foul temper and now it came to the fore. She dropped her lacrosse stick in its place in the cloakroom, slung her lacrosse boots into their pigeon hole, and stumped upstairs to the dormitory intending to fetch her shower things and clean clothes. Unfortunately Lauren happened to be in the dormitory. Alone. The presence of other people might have caused Sam to rein in her temper but now it vented itself with full force.

Angrily she accused her cousin of betraying their family. Of betraying all the traditions of Malory Towers. Lauren initially took all this as a joke. Once she realised that Sam was serious, she too flared up into an impressive outburst of temper. She told Sam that she was being ridiculous, that if Malory Towers relied on lacrosse to keep its traditions alive then those traditions must be pretty rubbish. As for letting down their family by not playing lacrosse, Lauren thought that was a ridiculous idea and that if Sam wanted to let down the family she should get herself expelled. Ideally as quickly as possible – which, with a temper as foul as that, shouldn't be a problem.

The exchange was brought to an end by an irate fourth year poking her head around the door and telling them to either shut up or go and argue somewhere else. She also pointed out that it was only a matter of time until one of the staff heard about the argument and then they would be in trouble. In the meantime they might like to know that half the house was stood outside the door listening. She wisely removed her head from the room before either of the warring cousins could find anything to throw.

A few seconds later the door opened again, this time admitting Becky and Kipper who had been sent in by their dormitory mates to ascertain whether it was safe to come in and get ready for supper. They gazed open mouthed at the combatants and then looked at each other, as if wondering whether they were imagining things. This brought Sam and Lauren to their senses and they looked at each other in embarrassment. Finally, wordlessly, Sam snatched up her things and ran to the shower. Was she doomed to fall out with Lauren every single term? If she was then the next few years were going to be rather long.

Everyone was very diplomatic at dinner, having apparently made a collective decision to pretend that nothing had happened. Sam was grateful for by now she was beginning to feel extremely embarrassed. What a ridiculous thing to have done. Why on earth couldn't she have been polite to Lauren? She knew her cousin wouldn't be persuaded by being shouted at, and persuaded she must be. For Darrell's sake Sam must make sure that lacrosse lived on at Malory Towers.

When the meal ended Sam was not surprised to find herself tackled by Kipper and more or less dragged off to one of the music practise rooms. "What on earth is going on?" Kipper demanded, her blue eyes boring into Sam's brown ones. "How can you be so ridiculously angry about lacrosse of all things?"

"How do you know I was angry about lacrosse?" demanded Sam angrily.

"Most of Malory Towers knows, the volume you were shouting at. Most of Cornwall probably".

"You don't understand. It's not like you have any family traditions at Malory Towers to live up to".

"Maybe not but at least I know that screaming at people won't persuade them to do what I want".

Sam groaned "can't argue about that. It was a bit ridiculous I admit. But you really don't understand what it's like to have all these family traditions to live up to".

Kipper grinned "thankfully no. As it happens my mother's old school has closed and my father's is still all boys. So no family school traditions for me to live up to".

"You could establish your own. I think I'm doomed to fall out with Lauren every term, your tradition can be forcing us to get back to being friends".

"No thanks. I think I'd prefer running naked round the court once a term".


End file.
